Although the present invention and the problem on which it is based can in principle be applied to any vehicles, they will be described in detail below with reference to an aircraft.
Modern aircraft comprise a plurality of electronic devices. These devices are conventionally connected to a central server via wired or wireless data interfaces. This server is designed to evaluate the data of these devices and to control the devices. For this purpose, the devices, which are connected to one another and to the one server via a data bus or via a wireless data interface, must be clearly identifiable by the server. In particular for electronic devices, which are present in large numbers in an aircraft, it is very important to have an efficient method for this purpose. These devices may for example be sensors. For example, seat occupancy sensors, which are installed at each seat, detect whether or not a passenger is sitting on a seat. Another example of such sensors are position sensors for seat backrests or the tables of the individual seats.
To control the sensors, these can be connected to the associated server, for example via a corresponding connection cable. Each sensor is thus clearly identifiable for the server by means of a connection port which is allocated to this sensor and to which the respective cable is connected. Modern wide-body passenger aircraft now accommodate well over 350 passengers. Therefore, aircraft of this type also comprise, for example, a number of seat occupancy sensors and position sensors which corresponds to the number of seats. It is clear that an above-described point-to-point connection of the plurality of sensors to the server using corresponding connection lines requires a very complex, large cable form, which, in addition to the additional material and assembly costs, would also significantly increase the weight. For these reasons, sensors which communicate with the server via a wireless interface or a data bus may be used in this context.
However, in order for sensors of this type to be clearly identifiable for the server, these are each provided with a sensor-specific identifier, known as a Function Item Number (FIN), which clearly identifies the individual sensors and also denotes the location or seat number thereof.
For example, a FIN is allocated to the individual sensors using what is known as PIN coding. In PIN coding, sensors are parameterised by means of suitable jumpers or address selection switches. In this context, each jumper or each address selection switch represents one bit of a binary code. The FIN of the respective sensor is then set in the respective sensor as a binary code by means of the jumpers or address selection switches. The selection switches may alternatively also represent a digit of a decimal code, hexadecimal code, etc.
When using PIN coding, a technician must first read off the identification numbers of a plurality of electric devices individually and set them manually by means of the jumpers or address selection switches. This identification number is conventionally printed on a sticker which is placed at the location of the device. In modern wide-body aircraft in particular, this proves very time-consuming. This is also error-prone owing to the large number of devices to be parameterised, especially since, with the progressive miniaturisation of individual devices, the jumpers or address selection switches are also becoming smaller and thus more difficult to operate manually.